Three Key Learnings:
1. Masking and Mental Health: Understand why autistic and ADHD teenage girls mask, its impact on anxiety, burnout, and identity, and how to support safe unmasking.

2. Emotional Regulation and Interoception: Learn how difficulties in sensing emotions contribute to anxiety and shutdowns, and gain neuro-affirming strategies to support self-regulation.

3. Late Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis: Recognise why autistic and ADHD girls are often misdiagnosed with anxiety or personality disorders, and how to advocate for accurate, affirming support.

Attendees will leave with practical tools to create safer, more supportive environments at home, school, and in mental health settings.


Autistic and ADHD teenage girls face unique, often invisible mental health challenges, yet their struggles are frequently misunderstood, dismissed, or entirely overlooked. Many develop masking as a survival strategy, learning to suppress their distress and camouflage their differences in order to fit in. This comes at a high cost—leading to burnout, anxiety, depression, and an ongoing struggle for self-acceptance.

But what if the problem isn’t them—it’s the environment around them?

Traditional mental health approaches frequently fail autistic and ADHD girls because they focus on external behaviours rather than underlying distress. They are often dismissed because they seem “fine.” Their struggles are real—but too often, they are unseen.

This peer-led session draws from a decade of community connection and Yellow Ladybugs’ lived experience research, including the Extended Trauma Response Model, to highlight the protective factors that can improve long-term mental health outcomes. Participants will learn:
• Why masking is a survival response—and the toll it takes on mental health, self-identity, and wellbeing.
• How interoception and emotional regulation differences contribute to anxiety, sensory overwhelm, and shutdowns, and why these responses are often misinterpreted as behavioural issues.
• The impact of late diagnosis and misdiagnosis, including the mental health risks of invalidation, unmet needs, and trauma responses unique to autistic girls.
•Peer Led neuro-affirming, protective strategies for supporting autistic and ADHD girls in managing anxiety, reducing burnout, advocating for their needs, and fostering self-trust.

This session goes beyond awareness—it offers practical, community-driven strategies that educators, parents, and professionals can implement to create affirming environments in schools, mental health services, and at home.

By shifting the focus from fixing behaviours to supporting needs, we can ensure autistic and ADHD teenage girls feel safe, seen, and empowered to thrive.